A business in southern Russellville is under investigation after Russellville police received complaints that the venue is an illegal gaming operation.

Cyber-Zone, an Internet cafe located on South Arkansas Avenue, is the focus of a Russellville Police Department (RPD) investigation into whether allowing patrons to purchase phone cards and use them to play an electronic gaming machine is illegal. Media outlets reported the cafe allows customer to cash out a phone card for whatever value is won from the game.

Patrons at Cyber-Zone on Monday appeared to be paying cash to put money on phone cards, which they swiped when playing the games, while computers appeared to allow patrons to select different brands of phone cards.

According to Cyber-Zone’s Facebook page, the cafe offers pre-paid long distance phone cards, Internet and email usage and office services. The cafe also offers free Internet classes and holds phone sweepstakes that allow patrons to win $5,000, according to the page.

Attempts to contact the owner of Cyber-Zone were unsuccessful.

RPD Public Information Officer Joshua McMillian said the department turned its findings over to Fifth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Gibbons for review.

Gibbons, whose office does not release details of open investigations, confirmed the investigation is still underway.

“There’s an investigation going on by the Russellville Police Department into an allegation of illegal gambling,” he said.

Gibbons said he also didn’t have a time frame of when a decision will be made whether or not to pursue further action.

In the case of the 18 year old let's hope he is going to college and is eligible for The Arkansas Lottery schloraship,That's where some of the money he lost is going. The lottery and horse racing are both governed by the laws of the state.There is no reason to say that law enforcement and the courts can't be trusted because they say they are investigating this establishment.Who is supposed to investigate this? The children in the daycare next door? I hope that law enforcement and city officials continue to look into this. It looks like a casino to me.

Just so everyone knows, the card has nothing to do with the amount of sweepstakes entries or prizes won. The card acts as a quick way to log into the player acct. Think of a bank atm, you must insert or swipe your card for the machine to identify you, this is the same concept with the card swipe. There is NO money on the card only login information.

Is this gambling ? Without knowing the gaming provider it is impossible to tell. However, if this is a true legitimate sweepstakes then this game is NO DIFFERENT than Mcdonalds Monopoloy and IF that is the case, it is NOT gambling.

Yes the card acts as a log in for the user accounts, however; think of it this way, when you go to the casino and you insert your players card into the slot machine, it records all spins and wins or losses. The phone card that you use at Cyberzone is all in the same. It records everything you do, from bets to wins and losses.

Also, Gambling is defined as, Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value (referred to as "the stakes") on an event with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. So everytime a player hits the spin or reveal button, they are taking a chance of winning or loosing money. This is no different than a casino.

To quote a Supreme Court Judge in the State of Arkansas, "If it looks like a slot machine, works like a slot machine and sounds like a slot machine, it is indeed a slot machine."

And this is COMPLETELY different than a McDonalds sweepstakes. In McDonalds sweeps stakes you purchase a food item and then in return peel off a sticker and you then collect multiple stickers for a chance to win a prize. You do not play a slot like game or you do not load money values to a user account and then have to select your wager or bet to determine how much money you can win. Everyone has the same chances at winning no matter if you buy a fry or a soda. Casino's allow you to bet/wager large amounts of money in order to win large amounts of money. If you bet/wager low, you win low. If you bet/wager high, you win high.

So your reasoning on this "sweepstakes" gesture is completely off the charts. Further investigation is definitely needed into this facility.

I'm afraid that you are badly misinformed.This establishment clearly meets the definition of a gambling house.The Prosecuting Attorney of Pulaski County has stated for the record that this is gambling. A bet is placed and you can either win or lose. If you try to get around the law by saying it is a sweepstakes then it would be an illegal lottery. The decision of what to do about this should not be a hard one to make.

As you will soon see, the states definition of gambling and the action that is taking place inside the facility are not one in the same.

"If it looks like a slot machine, works like a slot machine and sounds like a slot machine, it is indeed a slot machine." HERE IS THE KICKER. Is a slot machine illegal or is the action of wagering illegal ? The point is, the Judge quoted above must have a measuring device to determine if 'gambling' is taking place (otherwise we may have to remove solitaire from all of our computers)Is gambling taking place ? Let us first dissect what the state defines as gambling.

Gambling is defined as, Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value (referred to as "the stakes") on an event with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods.

Prize

Chance

Consideration

Confused ? Well let me clear it up for you.

1) I walk into McDoanlds and I buy a burger combo.

1) I walk into a internet cafe and buy a phone card.

2) In appreciation for buying the burger combo I am allowed the chance to enter a sweepstakes *All legitimate sweepstakes must have a certain characteristics set forth by state fed guidelines.

2)In appreciation for buying the phone time I am allowed the chance to enter a sweepstakes *All legitimate sweepstakes must have a certain characteristics set forth by state fed guidelines.

3)I enter the burger combo sweepstakes by peeling back a peel tab on the side of a cup or on a burger wrapper.

3) I enter the sweepstakes by logging into my sweepstakes acct that was created after the purchase of the product.

4) I determine if I win by looking on the back of the peel tab *all predetermined

4) I determine if I win by looking on the screen at simulated slots, cards or keno. *all predetermined

Sir, the comment that this is COMPLETELY different than McDonalds Monopoly indicates that an education of sweepstakes math is needed. If you do choose to research further into the math behind a sweepstakes you will see very clearly that monopoly sweeps and net sweeps are not only similar but mathematicaly identical.

There are even platforms that allow the sweepstakes player to view their entries via a peel tab on their screen.

Contrary to your statement about the card in Vegas, if the card was lost or stolen would all the information be gone ? No, of course not. It would be replaced and another card would then access the account. The card is for logging into where the information is stored. Not really a big deal other than the article seems to suggest that the card holds some sort of value when it does not.

JustSoYouKnow--

The prosecutor has a job to do and that job is to determine if state laws are being broken.On the surface, It appears that laws are being broken but (if this is a legitimate sweeps company) after the dissection of the actions, the state will drop all charges and this will NOT be an issue of local interpretation.

As you will see, this is no different than Mcdonalds sweepstakes. Its all about :